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Raithel Solspark
"You know, I've always been seen as a dork. Not that that matters. You know why? Because I can show them different." Raithel Elosine Solspark (formerly Raithel Viperscar) is an elven engineer, and a member of the 812th Battalion division of the Highguard. Commonly known as "Quill", she's deployed on the Broken Isles with the 812th Battalion. History Quill was born to Kimarai and Gravos Falconreed, a holy couple of folk who worked for the Church of the Sun. However, due to having Quill out of wedlock, they were forced to send her to their trusted neighbors, Tereth and Leoleus Solspark. Quill had some formal education in Thalassian engineering and prove a quirky student, devising innovative constructs and contraptions. What little space she held in her family's home was filled with gadgets, power cores, and other such tools common to Thalassian engineering. She enjoyed creating things, and generally lived happily growing up in the peaceful days before the invasion. Fall of Quel'Thalas When the Scourge breached the elfgates, life changed drastically. With a home in what is now the eastern Ghostlands, Quill's father Leolus hurried his wife and children towards the nearby hide in caves along the rugged Thalassian range as the scourge destroyed their home and nation. Soon the hunger came, the Sunwell destroyed. the agony of addiction proved too much for Quill's mother Tereth, whom began to view seeking out arcane crystals, and when she'd learned to Mana Tap, any source she could find, above the needs of her family or even herself. While Mana Tap did much to ease the pain for most, for Tereth it proved too tempting a thing, her addiction having grown severe from the period of deprivation. Mana tapping the energy and life out of anything from arcane wyrms to rodents and small deer, the decline of Tereth likely contributed to the less than upstanding life Quill would come in time to live, her father forced to give up hope of saving his increasingly paranoid wife, fleeing Quel'Thalas with his six children. A Long, Dark Journey Leoleus and the six children, Raithel the youngest and her sister Selinye Solspark being the the eldest, fled in the dead of night while Tereth, per normal was out seeking mana crystals. Partially with the help of Quill's small robots, they had located a path across the Thalassian Range to the eastern coast of the Ghostlands. The area was sparsely populated, though as approaching the Amani peninsula, they came upon the coastal enclave of Ashal'Thalas, a secluded Thalassian enslave which, protected by the jagged peaks, had been spared the worst of the invasion. The small Viscountcy was far too overwhelmed with refugees to consider remaining, though they eventually gained passage south of a seafaring ship, heavily cramped with refugees, Leoleus led his family from the ship at the first port of call, Revantusk Village in the Hinterlands. Given the historic rivalry, though the Revantusk lacked the hostility towards elves held by the Amani, the sight of trolls nauseated most of the elves, notably Quill's eldest sister Variona. The Solspark family would quickly depart the troll village, taking to a nomadic lifestyle, travelling across the Hinterlands and Arathi. Unlike the rest of her family, Quill was fascinated by the trolls, and while of on her foraging trips, began to visit them and learn of their ways, trading some of her gadgetry and eventually making friends with a few among the Revantusk tribe, whom showed her how to better forage. On one such night a Zandalari priest was present, and with him were snakes. Quill was fascinated by the venomancy of the Zandalari and his ability to handle deadly snakes, and use their venom to equally lethal ends. Quill took up studying the craft; her interest shared by a number of the Revantusk trolls, and together they learned from the trolls how to utilize venoms and other toxins, and loa-based nature magics to to lethal ends. Quill had never trained for combat before, and as she learned the ways of venomancy, the fear she'd held in the dark forest gave way to confidence she'd never before felt. Leoleus would never return from a hunting trip one day; whether he had been killed or abandoned them was unknown, but her eldest sister Selinye took charge of the other five siblings, leading them further south into the Eastern Kingdoms. Life was difficult, though Quill managed, until a day when Selinye came upon Quill's venomancy kit, vials of snake poison and loa charms among them. Quilll tried explaining she'd learned something that could save them all, and didn't make her feel weak, though Selinye was having none of it, shunning Raithel. Deeply insulted, on her journey alone to Stormwind, she began using the last name "Viperscar", and would take to more sinister pursuits upon her arrival in the human city. What Goes Unseen Quill was lost in the massive, foreign city, though soon realized her poisons were sought after, and for a good price, by a certain sort, and she was increasingly drawn to the thriving criminal underworld in Stormwind and the surrounding areas, notably Westfall. Surrounded by bustling crowds and an unfamiliar language, Raithel found survival difficult, turning to picking pockets of unsuspecting passerbys, snagging a loaf of bread when the baker was tied up with the morning crowds. She made friends with a fellow thief named Kiara, a younger human woman, whom taught her some Common, and introduced her to Stormwind's Black Market, on which she soon learned there was much value in the toxins produced by her venomancy. She ate and slept well following the sale of one of her vials, but over wine, pondered if the venom held such value, how much there must be in its application. She was stealthy, cute, and with her toxins and spells; she'd since re-carved the loa masks uncovered by her sister. Raithel Viperscar developed into a lethal rogue in the criminal element of the human city, acting as a hitwoman and dealing in venoms, hallucinogens and other such illegal though highly sought after drugs, along with weapons, poison tipped daggers and the sort, which sold quite well, and took little of her venom, and only an ordinary dagger. While at times hits were not as frequent as she wished, they paid well, and her trading activities; if she wasn't using her venoms she could at least sell them, saw her through slower periods. Raithel earned a good deal of time and came to live rather peacefully in Defias-run Westfall where there was a brisk demand for her products and services, and with what few guards were present paid off, far less risk of ending up in the Stockade than in the city proper. All went well, until a hit came along that was unlike others she'd met. She knew the mark to be a "Broken", a deformed sort of Draenei. Having had little trouble with non-deformed draenic marks in the past, and the fee being twice her typical rate, she thought the task an easy one, staking out a path along which the creature hobbled daily, readying her venomancy to strike. from a cluster of brush. She lunged towards the mark with a toxic loa spell, expecting it to do much of the needed work before her dagger was within range. However, the Broken turned towards her with seemingly unnatural speed for one that walked so slowly, slamming down a totem and reflecting the spell back at her. Raithel had no knowledge of wards, and the toxin struck her eyes. She managed to get away; the Broken shaman probably could've killed her given the magic he displayed if he'd wanted, though he pursued only a short ways, bolts of lightning magic assuring she'd received the message. The toxin brought upon severe burns to both scleras of her eyes, severely damaging her vision. With her vision distorted and having a difficult time getting around, she knew herself unprepared should her condition become known and she be seen as an easy target for a thief or one seeking retaliation for her prior work. Raithel concealed the condition on the guise of a wound to her leg, that would keep her at home, though not severely hamper her ability to strike out with venomancy, and her home was suitably trapped, which at times worried her moving about with such poor vision, though she dared not remove them. She was able to obtain engineering components traded to an associate, concealing the damage to her eyes with common engineer's goggles, she'd stated she needed the parts for a bomb and included explosives on the list to add effect; her contact not being the brightest didn't think why one may need lenses in a bomb, though did return with the parts she needed. Quill set out to work on a pair of adjustable goggles, altering the levels of blue, green, and red light that got through, with time she could see reasonably by making a few adjustments to the goggles as light levels changed, though she'd serve poorly in her prior line of work; an assassin with engineer's goggles was somewhat distinct, and she'd one brush with death coming upon and over-matched target. Such was inevitable to transpire again. From developing the goggles, she rediscovered her passion for robotics and engineering, and began tinkering again as she had in Quel'Thalas as she pondered her future. Quill had a bit of coin, and decided to leave the territory of Stormwind, having learned from her time there that there was a notable population of High Elves in Dalaran where the Silver Covenant was then stationed. She'd documents forged using the name "Quill Solspark". Many of the High Elves in Stormwind had lost their original Quel'Thalas documents, though her surname would check out, and there'd be no association to her true first name of Raithel by which she, foolishly looking back, used in criminal circles. "Quill Solspark" readied a number of chests of partially fabricated engineering designs for added effect, gathered up her coin, documents, and some of her things, and reached Dalaran, which was then moving about over the sea, through a portal she'd purchased in the Mage Quarter as was commonly done. Dressed in a fresh set of clothes, she'd all the look of an engineer. Silver Covenant Service - Third Legion War "Quill Solspark", arrived in Dalaran not long before the third Legion invasion was to begin, though she was well-settled among The Highguard (High Elf) when hostilities broke out, assigned to the 812th Farstrider Battalion as a combat engineer. Seeing combat often even before the Legion invaded, she'd come to wield a pair of pistols, and with access to Thalassian technology, was able to develop a pair of goggles that would automatically adjust and provided better clarity than what she'd worn in Stormwind. Quill became known for a quirky, talkative personality, leaving the details of her past life in Stormwind unspoken. Accustomed to a life in the shadows among untrustworthy characters, it felt good to be largely among her people again, and Quill was able to relax as she settled in, forming friendships with the engineers, scouts, and rangers she served alongside in the 812th. When the Third Legion War broke out, the whole of the 812th was activated to defend against the initial bombardment, Quill was adjusted to fighting alongside others by now, and took on the demons bravely with her guns and engineered explosives. She managed to bring down a fel reaver threatening ironically, Westfall, by grappling up to its "knee" and detonating a bomb that brought the colossus down. She'd worn a cowl for that mission, and took a mage's portal evacuation shortly after, disliking being in Westfall, though she'd gain note as a combat engineer for her actions. Quill is likely currently deployed somewhere in Suramar province as part of the Highguard's operations there, and despite her troubled life and questionable past, has come to be one her allies trust and rely on, and for the first time since Quel'Thalas, fights alongside her kin to live in a place they can truly call home and in a world free of demons. Trivia *Raithel is the author of a book called Dinosaurs of Azeroth, a project that the person behind the character is working on and plans to upload to the Moon Guard Wiki upon completion. The book merges science from both the real world and the Warcraft universe to create a more realistic outlook on the dinosaurs which dwell on Azeroth. *Her father's invention and Raithel's melee weapon of choice, the Painsaw Katana, is a reference to this picture. *Quill is on a quest to boop (poke one's nose and say the word 'boop') every sentient being on Azeroth. Category:Characters Category:The Highguard Category:High Elf Category:Engineers